1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing an ear device having a retention element to be worn at least in part in at least one of the outer ear and the ear canal of a user, such as a hearing protection earplug.
2. Description of Related Art
US 2003/0133583 A1 relates to a process for manufacturing a customized shell of a hearing device, in particular a hearing aid, wherein the inner shape of the user's outer ear and ear canal is measured, a three dimensional (3D) digital data set representative of the measured inner shape of the user's outer ear and ear canal is obtained, the 3D data set is transmitted to a production center either on a disk or via the internet, and the customized shell having a outer surface with a shape corresponding to the measured inner shape of the user's outer ear and ear canal is manufactured by an additive layer-by-layer build-up process such as selective laser sintering of a powder material or laser lithography. Individual user data is stored and managed in a centralized manner. If a shell has to be replaced it can be reproduced by retrieving the stored individual data sets.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,731,997 B2 relates to a similar process, wherein an individual data set is gathered for each user, comprising information regarding the individual user's audio needs such as hearing loss data, information regarding the 3D shape of the user's outer ear and ear canal and information regarding the individual user's non-audio needs. The individual user's data set is input into a computer system comprising a local computer and a remote computer, for example, by the user of the hearing device via an internet-kind network or via a data carrier such as CD or tape. The 3D shape data of the user's outer ear and ear canal is obtained by taking an impression of the ear, which then undergoes scanning; alternatively, the user's ear is directly scanned. When an existing hearing device has to be repaired or updated, the 3D shape data is retrieved from a database in which such data is stored. Based on the gathered individual user's data set the shell of the hearing device is manufactured by an additive layer-by-layer build-up process.
EP 1 414 271 A2 relates to a hearing aid to be worn within the user's ear canal, which comprises a data memory into which data regarding the inner shape of the user's outer ear and ear canal having been determined by taking an impression of the user's ear is stored. Such data stored in the hearing aid may be used for adapting the hearing aid to the individual user.
It is a first object of the invention to provide for a method for manufacturing ear devices having a retention element with an outer surface individually shaped according to the inner shape of the user's outer ear and/or ear canal, wherein the method should be simple, flexible and fast.
It is a further object of the invention to provide for a method for manufacturing an ear device having a retention element to be worn at least in part in the outer ear and/or ear canal of a user, wherein the method should be simple but nevertheless should provide for an optimized fit of the retention element within the user's outer ear and/or ear canal.